5k Question

[myboypat]

Hi, I've had my Model-D for about a month now, and I love it. I'm off my dreaded treadmill, and haven't looked back.
My question is regarding the 5k meter workout. I enjoy the 5k because I can work out every morning before I head out to my job, and it doesn't impact my family's morning routine. I saw after-the-fact that there are 5k rankings, which got me interested in my own times (again, I'm new, so I'm not worried about my times against the rest of the world). Sorry, back to my question..... When rowing a 5k, do you try to get right to your desired 500-meter time, and stick to it, or do you start slow, row hard, then ease up? I want to make sure that I'm rowing the 5k correctly.
Thanks in advance,
Brian

[hjs]

Hi, I've had my Model-D for about a month now, and I love it. I'm off my dreaded treadmill, and haven't looked back.
My question is regarding the 5k meter workout. I enjoy the 5k because I can work out every morning before I head out to my job, and it doesn't impact my family's morning routine. I saw after-the-fact that there are 5k rankings, which got me interested in my own times (again, I'm new, so I'm not worried about my times against the rest of the world). Sorry, back to my question..... When rowing a 5k, do you try to get right to your desired 500-meter time, and stick to it, or do you start slow, row hard, then ease up? I want to make sure that I'm rowing the 5k correctly.
Thanks in advance,
Brian

As evenly as possible, but if you start without a warm up, you start out slower and work yourself to your disired working pace, the first part is a warm up. If you don,t have time to cool down, it's also better to finish again a bit slower.

[ThatMoos3Guy]

There's no "right" way to necessarily row a 5k, do whatever feels best. I prefer to start out a little slower (around 1 second off my goal pace) and then over the first 5 minutes work down to that 500m/avg. I try and hold that steady until the last 500m or so of the piece, and then I bring it home as fast as I can.

Technically, the most efficient way to row a 5k is to get right down to your goal avg and hold that for every single stroke. That's because the power required for the rowing stroke gets exponentially harder the lower the split. So, if you avg a 1:55, but hold a 1:50 for the first half and a 2:00 the second half it'll require a higher average watts, even though the time will be the same.

[myboypat]

Thank you for the replies. Since the 5k is my whole workout (warm-up, cool-down, etc.), I'll start off a bit slower, then hit my desired pace. I really enjoy the fact that I can track my progress with the PM3 and software. It really keeps me motivated.
Thanks again!
Brian

[chgoss]

Everyone is different.. I get my best results by "negative splitting" i.e. starting slower, then speeding up.
- short warmup before starting the 5k
- start at 2 or 3 seconds above what your average pace will be
- at the 3k to go mark, try to be right at the target pace
- from that point on, try to gradually speed up so that you hit your desired time.

I see a lot of people "flat pacing", keeping their speed constant the entire time with perhaps a sprint in the last 500m or so, but that doesnt seem to work well for me..

[Carl Watts]

For a PB time I come out fast to get moving and then quickly settle on the average pace required to meet my intended target. If there is any excess gas left near the end I sprint, however ideally the pace you pick should see you maxed out at the end without a sprint. The hard part is to pick the right pace so you don't hit the wall before the finish. This is what works for me anyway. For longer events I don't even warm up, just a few strokes to make sure the Erg is working without any problems and to check the Drag Factor, however for say the 500M and the 2K a warmup is required.

[Bob S.]

As evenly as possible, but if you start without a warm up, you start out slower and work yourself to your disired working pace, the first part is a warm up. If you don,t have time to cool down, it's also better to finish again a bit slower.

I strongly second this message. I often do what I call an all-in-one - that is a piece which includes a warm up, a steady state middle part and a cool down. As far as the timing is concerned, I feel that I need about 5' each for the warm up and cool down parts. I always do time-set pieces, like 30', 40', or more. I suppose that with a distance-set piece it would be more appropriate to use distance based warm ups and cool downs.

Bob S.